Road Trip
by illusionallydelicious
Summary: Erin pursues her birth mother with Kelly. Takes place between season 7 and 8.
1. Chapter 1

Not a day goes by where Erin Hannon doesn't think of her parents. She knew they were young, and she heard about suicides in her unknown family. She heard there was a high likelihood she had schizophrenia, along with epilepsy. She knew basic facts, but nothing about them physically, and few things personally.

The first time she thought of them was when she was about 5 and learned the norm was to live with her family. This little blonde girl with a deep tan, something new in Pennsylvania, was showing off a picture her parents sent from prison.

"See?" she said. "They do love me! They do!"

"Then why are they there and not with you?" asked a witchy looking girl.

"They say it's the popo's fault!" The blonde one screeched. "Why? Are you jealous?"

"Nope," the witchy girl said, "because parents suck."

"Suck" was a big no-no word, mostly because it was so commonly used and abused. The foster parents would make the kids who said swear words sit in time out for 15 minutes. It really wasn't different for Erin's normal self. She hid in her hair to avoid other kids, amazingly not being bullied.

Erin did observe other kids sometimes, like the two girls getting into an epic fight.

"Why didn't you try to stop them?" asked the foster mother, trying to tear the little girls apart. Little Erin cried, and the foster father let her have a cookie.

She ate her cookie on the swings, wondering what the other girls were talking about. She knew what parents were. She understood how mommies and daddies had babies. Erin always thought that it was normal to live with a bunch of families. The fight between the two girls changed her.

#

25 years later, Erin talks about it with her best friend by default, Kelly.

"Oh my god, Erin," Kelly says sympathetically while painting her nails, "that's awful! Did anyone ever try to beat you up?"

Erin shook her head. "I stayed out of other peoples way."

"Isn't that how kids get molested?" Kelly asked, still concerned.

"Typically," Erin said, "I used to be a bad secret keeper, so they kept me out of it."

Kelly jumped up and hugged Erin. "You're so strong," she whispered.

Erin blinked, mostly out of confusion and partly because her eyes were dry. "Thank you?" Kelly petted Erin's hair, shushing her the way people did in chick flicks.

"Remember when I thought Phyllis was my mom?" Erin asked.

Kelly gasped. "Was she?"

"No, that's why I said I _thought_." Erin was feeling sassy today. Michael would be proud. "Anyway, I've been doing some research on my parents."

"What all did you find?" Kelly was interested in Erin for once. It was usually Kelly being cool and Erin riding on the coattails. Erin had to show off her own skills.

"Well," she started, "she lives only a few hours away-"

"I'M GOING WITH YOU."

Erin blinked. "What?"

"You're going to find her, right?"

Kelly only cuts off the most important conversations. "Yeah," Erin smiled. "I guess I am."

"Oh my god," Kelly jumped out of her chair, "road trip!"

Erin hadn't gone to college, or had any good friends. She only had her license because she needed a job. The concept of a road trip road trip was a new concept. The concept of a trip in general was new.

Kelly, on the other hand, knew exactly what to do. She knew the right snacks, bars, clothes, audio books, and perfect amount of gas. Her parents paid for her to go to college so long as she had a job. Of course, the grocery store she worked at flooded right before spring break. She was able to take what was needed as she went with her friends. Not to mention, she was in a family of big travelers.

Meanwhile, Erin had been to both Disneyland and Disneyworld. That's something.

"Oh my god, Erin, this is going to be so much fun! Just us and Ryan-"

Erin sucked in air. "Do we need Ryan?"

Kelly stared blankly.

"I was hoping this could be a girls trip."

More blankness.

"Can he bring his own car?" Erin asked "And stay in a different hotel room?"

Kelly made a pshhh noise. "Of course. I mean, he's a boy. Like, ew!"

Erin felt relieved. "All rightie! Great! I just have to ask off…" The relief was short lived. Robert California was the branch manager now, and he scared Erin. Then again, most people scared Erin, but Robert replaced Michael, and kept Andy from the job.

NO! STOP THINKING ABOUT ANDY! His blue eyes and sweet voice and JUST STOP, ERIN!

Ad now Erin was standing outside Robert's office. The door was ajar. "Erin, are you just going to stand by my window poignantly or come in?"

Her eyes widened more. "Oh, uh, right. Sorry." She walked in the impeccable office. No knick knacks, no pictures of family, nothing fun, nothing familiar. Erin liked familiar. She liked when something was there she recognized.

"What would you like to talk about?" Robert leaned back in his chair, not unlike villains in movies.

"Kelly and I want time off," Erin said. She was a little proud of herself for spitting it out, but that kind of pride wore thin after too long. "We're finding my birth mother."

Robert nodded. "Who would do the phones while you're gone?"

"Kevin did them before me," Erin said, "maybe him?"

"Carpe diem, young Erin. You can leave Friday!"

"I'm a Phillies fan myself, but thank you so much!"

Erin proudly strolled back over to the annex, spontaneously tousling Andy's hair and smiling at Creed, who responded with holding his tongue through a peace sign. It must have been Swahili or something.

"We're in!" Erin said. She and Kelly screamed, jumped, and hugged at the same time, in that way women do, but more often younger girls.


	2. Chapter 2

"Oh my god, Erin, it's so boring!"

"We've been on the road for twenty minutes."

"We have been on the road for twenty three minutes!"

"Sorry."

Kelly was sitting in the passengers seat, listening to the new No Doubt album. She wanted it to be like some of the last albums, maybe like Gwen's solo stuff? Kelly didn't even know what she was supposed to expect anymore. She just wanted to like it.

Kelly sighed, as her best friend in the entire world drove, and her boyfriend followed. She looked out the window, and sighed again. She was never the smartest, most talented, or thinnest. In middle school, she was cruelly picked on. Isolation, insults, and dirty looks followed her around. Thank god she moved freshman year.

A new atmosphere allowed Kelly to break out of her shell. She had choir and drama, and had a boys attention immediately. His name was Byron, and he was lanky with huge blue eyes and messy, dark brown hair in a Jewish way. She probably wouldn't have been able to date him if another Indian boy were at her school, which made being a minority pretty damn cool. Besides, the Anglo Saxon girls envied Kelly, who, it turned out, just needed a friend or two to be bubbly and happy.

By senior year, she was one of the top 30 students (she maintained her grades to A's and B's to make her parents proud); had sex with two gorgeous guys, which was just enough to not be considered a slut (not that she acknowledged society's views on sex, she just didn't want to be bullied); knew how to make fancy drinks; and was one of the most popular girls in school. Sure, she wasn't the most beautiful, but she was loved. Kelly just wanted that type of notation all that time.

This continued through college, except people noticed something about Kelly that she hadn't noticed until now: she was shallow. Everyone was getting into indie films (not movies; god forbid you call them movies) and Pabst Blue Ribbon. They were watching MTV because they felt like Daria, not because of the music. Kelly was an outcast on the side she wanted to be, where everyone seemed really nice. The only option was leaning to the shallow side, where she was twice everyone's size and acted like her middle school tormentors. Making herself as genuine as possible, Kelly survived college without a scratch. Unless you count sexual assault, but she kept her head up. It wasn't her fault, and she had the assaulter and his friend who sold roofies arrested, so who's the enemy now, biatch?

Post college, Kelly sought for attention, with the story of her assault and saying she was pregnant. She very well could've been! She would never say it unless she had been laid the month before and hadn't had her period yet. Pregnancy didn't scare her; she had planned for it since she was young. Apparently, "lying" gets you a meeting with human resources. It was a good thing she and Toby were as close as they were.

Toby would start by saying something boring, like, "Kelly, did you say you were pregnant?"

Then, Kelly would widen her eyes adorably like Lucille Ball and Danny Pudi's sexy baby. How wouldn't that baby be sexy? You know; once it grows up. "Who? Me? Or Erin?"

Toby would sigh and say something like. "You. Erin rarely talks, and you're the one with the boyfriend."

"She does come off virginal," Kelly would say under her breath, and snap her well manicured fingers. "Wait! I know what you mean." She giggles a little and says, " I mentioned how cute these little jumpers would be perfect for my future son in the break room to Erin and Phyllis, and maybe someone misunderstood it? I don't know."

Toby would blink and say to try making things clearer, and Kelly would shrug and go back to doing what she was doing before.

Finding herself back in Erin's car, which isn't that crappy, Kelly found the time had passed rather significantly. The album was over (and replaced with Kelly's Up soundtrack), nothing looked familiar out the windows, and the clock said it was an hour later.

"Good morning, sleepy head," Erin said, "or, good evening. But that sounds really creepy, like," Erin made herself sound like a vampire in those boring vampire movies Ryan tried to get her into instead of Twilight, "good evening."

You're funnier than I give you credit for," Kelly smiled.

"Thanks," Erin said, "it's fun to make people laugh, and Amy Poehler says 'You can't look stupid when you're having fun'."

"She has really pretty hair."

"She has a face like sunshine."

Kelly and Erin both laughed. One of their inside jokes was that Erin looked like Becca in Bridesmaids. Kelly insisted, and Michael said he "saw it", but Erin didn't. Becca was "too pretty", as she admitted in an insecure moment.

Their stomachs growled on cue. "I'm hungry," Kelly said.

"Me, too," Erin said. It was as in their stomachs weren't connected for a minute.

They passed by a dive bar, a threatening looking place. A big sign said WE HAVE FOOD that looked like a toddler wrote it. "Let's go there," Kelly said, "it has good road appeal."

"Sure," Erin said. Eternally Eager Erin: a nun called her that in her childhood, and Kelly was glad it stuck around in their aduthood. Hell, she was glad for Erin, the best friend she ever had.

#

Meanwhile, Ryan was in his own junk chic car, observing Kelly and Erin's traveling through the road more than his own. Erin was a good driver; this surprised Ryan. She always seemed too worried to be a good driver. Maybe she hyperfocused on not crashing, not killing everyone on the road, not Kelly. Good god, he loved her so much. Kelly, obviously. Erin would be best in a three way with him and Kelly. Maybe on their own.

They turned into a gross dive bar. Two women with gigantic breasts and pretty nice faces were walking in there? It was insane! He should go in, too. Then again, who would call the police.

Ryan drove passed.


End file.
